JOHN CIOCIOLA
817-361-2013 * jciociola@yahoo.com

SENIOR TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT

 

EXECUTIVE PROFILE

CLOUD Technology - Business Acumen – Strategic Planning

 

Creative, results driven technology leader with 23 years of proven engagement experience. Change agent and problem-solver with a passion for technology; skilled in grasping the big picture, conceptualizing, developing, and implementing solutions, and partnering closely with business leaders and C- level executives. Excels in developing and motivating highly focused teams that successfully meet and exceed company objectives.

 

v      Enterprise Integration & Architecture	v      Global IT Delivery & Portfolio Management
v      Cloud, IaaS, SaaS, Costing	v      Strategic Analysis & Internal Consulting
v      Organization & Staff Development	v      Manufacturing  Development & Integration

 

Professional Experience

 

 

Research Triangle Institute (RTI)(6/2015 to Present)

Sr. Enterprise PGM MGR

Responsible for all aspects of storage technology, assess existing technology landscape (EMC Clarion, HP LH, Data Domain, Dell) and provide a path forward to new NetApp 8080’s Hybrid and 8040’s Hybrid. Interviewed all technical staff to understand existing overall enterprise architecture. Develop migration strategy for reduced business impact.  The vision of CLOUD architect with the migration from an aging Data Center to Equinix. This would allow a direct/strategic migration path to Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure. Evaluated the technical and cost of a Nasuni CLOUD based NAS for the distributed enterprise solution. Long term will eliminated the need for DATA Domain, and reduced the net backup footprint.  Introduced the Cisco UCS blade solution This high compute blade solution in an 8U form factor would allowed for reduced footprint in the existing DC and the new Equinix COLO significantly reducing the costs by moving from a 20% VM’s to 90% VM’s.

Key Projects Aspects & Achievements

·               Governed virtual & p2v testing, for a roadmap from 30% virtual to 90% virtual.

·               Championed the introduction & provisioning of Cisco UCS blade solution (224 core in 8U & 160G network).

·               Developed technical roadmaps for existing DC storage update.

·               Directed engineering team tuning & testing of NetApp 8080’s and 8040’s.

·               Directed engineering team tuning & testing of SAS and Stata analytics.

·               Directed engineering team on design & implementation of virtualized BI Data Warehouse (30% faster), SAS & Stata analytics.

·               Oversight to Cisco / Brocade network for provisioning new storage solution and a new test LAB within the existing DC.

·               Mentored mgmt. on creating a successful CAB request documentation prior to reviews by CAB.

·               Championed Security considerations for various production and Hipaa environments.

·               Directed staff on departmental accountability, process, reporting, Project Plan, forecasting, and communication.

 

Ferguson / EMC(4/2015 to 6/2015)

Sr. Technology PGM MGR

Responsible for the assessment of 2 existing Data Centers (Corp@Newport News, VA & CyrusOne, Cincinnati, OH.

Determine what the Data Center should/would look like with an expected growth from 12Byrly to 25Byrly.  The logistics of existing corporate DC location, security, sustainability, redundancy. The assessment of corporate virtual policy to include metrics on status reporting, growth & recovery forecasting as well as reclamation of remaining unused VM’s.  Governance of EMC technical team consisting of CLOUD application feasibility assessment team and DC assessment team. Provided EMC standard PMO reporting documents internal to EMC and external to Ferguson. Managed assessment timelines of key deliverables (CLOUD application feasibility and DC assessment). 

Key Projects Aspects & Achievements

·               Championed engagement for EMCs client Ferguson

·               Strategically aligned with Ferguson PMO staff ; interviewed 72 staff members (managers, engineers, Solutions Mgrs)

·               Identified optimal COLO solution to reduce Data Center costing, while increasing performance.

·               Managed; Milestone Recognition and Acceptance forms to client Ferguson (EMC PO to Client)

·               Championed scheduling and creation of final deliverable from EMC to client Ferguson.

 

CVR Energy Corp.                                                                                                                 (10/2014 to 4/2015)

Sr. IT PGM MGR

Responsibilities acting as an Agent of change; provided leadership to all IT divisions transforming the various IT facets into a cohesive unit.  Overall this improved the effectiveness and contributions of the entire IT organization. Provided guidance and direction for a key initiatives: ITSD, Mobile Device Mgmt, Terra Data storage solution, Security, Dual Factor authentication, Deployment of a complete ITSD solution, IT/ business service catalog portal, full Service Desk, Asset, change, management solutions.  Managed corporate technology based monthly outages. This encompassed 60 staff members, planning and oversight to OS patching, application enhancements, Oracle and SQL updates. Critical areas of consideration were the 2 primary Jet fuel plants outage durations.  The entire outage is performed on Saturday afternoon and lasts about 15hrs.  Hosting CCB / CAB reviews while creating, charters, AFE’s and communications plans for IT/ Business that met the requirements of the mandated federal fuel contracts.

Key Projects Aspects & Achievements

·               Mentored Sr. staff on departmental accountability, process, reporting, forecasting, and communication.

·               Mentored project management staff on corporate standards for reporting, methodologies, budget mgmt.

·               Success turned around a failing PMO by defining departmental accountability, process, reporting, forecasting, and communication.

·               Regularly reviewed contractor billable hrs against project portfolio schedule and budget. 

·               Strategically align departmental relationships within the organization. This augmented the overall success of the enterprise.

·               Marginalized organizational risk across the portfolio.

·               Aligned IT projects to concise business requirements.

·               Developed Dashboards, reporting metrics on contractor / vendor, project, forecasting, scheduling, budget views.

·               Provided strategic and tactical leadership to drive resolution on an aggressive schedule.

 

Simmons & Serta Mattress Mfg. Corp. (04/2014 to 10/2014)

Sr. ITO Enterprise PGM MGR

Since its recent acquisition has decided to modernize and offshore the majority of its staff supporting 18 manufacturing facilities and 350 + retail locations in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Provided executive leadership as a member of the senior executive team reporting to the CIO.

Key Projects Aspects & Achievements

¨       Aligned technology with business needs via business strategy meetings between myself, business leaders, Ernst & Young , and Tata Consulting Services resulting in current, 3, and 5 year strategic plans to have technology driven by the business needs and goals.

¨       Championed cloud based business model that cut IT operational costs by 38% allowing optimization of contract/vendor management & renegotiation, needs assessments, cross-training, and headcount reduction.

¨       Built strong trusts with all senior management and business leaders by involving them in BI DW Terra Data  technology solutions (IaaS, DNSaaS, LBaaS, SaaS, AaaS) recommendations to insure business costing needs were being met. 

¨       Acted as cloud compute technical sales consultant to the 350 business units. Hosted web based live demonstrations, provided question & answer solution sessions.

¨       Managed and negotiated Master Service Agreement, Statements of work and Service level Agreements, liaison client-vendor activity and effectively evaluated problems and their resolution with individuals, teams, and departments.  Designed enterprise technology plans, policies and procedures. As the ITO Governance Manager, and reporting directly to the CIO, headed merger teams to manage integration of acquisitions, developed operational strategy to support network integration, application rationalization, and application roadmap realization for over 20 IT applications.

¨       Managed TCS vendor engagement, production support, LAN/WAN, enterprise architecture, enterprise systems, mobile handset management, business continuity and disaster recovery/colo.  In addition, planed the Manila and India call centers. Also determined capacity plans and managed project teams regionally.

¨       Expert in hardware, various OS, networks, system integration, performance monitoring, data management using various tools such as HPSM, ITSM process governance, architecture, communication protocols & transports, de-duplication, backup/DR planning.

¨       Worked at intersection of business and technology. Manage telephone, network and virtual systems, new equipment, and upgrades, identified opportunities for improvement and development, planned strategic, tactical, and operational plans that include the business missions, critical success factors, objectives and goals.

¨       Implemented state of art hardware, software, personnel, and project plans to address technology changes & coordinated hardware and software, data, voice and video communication networks.

¨       Negotiated ISP, IPVPN, and local/long distance phone service contracts.

 

McKesson Alpharetta, GA

Sr. Cloud Enterprise PGM MGR (01/2014 to 04/2014)

Responsible for all aspects of technology remediation, from existing data center platforms to internal cloud based solution (OneCloud), Microsoft Azure & COLO and customer delivery for 2000 clients. Provided oversight to Data Center and 16 remote sites audits while recommending a business acumen that made sense. Worked with executive leadership and business leaders to gain approval for the identified CLOUD based virtualization candidates.   Developed migrations roadmaps to support business technical needs.  Reviewed technical configuration with clients to provide a best fit solution. Implemented a simulated decommission project to flush equipment not requiring COLO eliminating overall McKesson costs by 33%. 

Key Projects Aspects & Achievements

·               Acted as cloud compute technical sales consultant to the 34 business units consisting of over 2000 clients.

·               Hosted web based live demonstrations, provided question & answer solution sessions for USA.

·               Managed efforts to facilitate data center migration for 34 business units into CLOUD based virtualization environment OneCloud.

·               Developed and maintained CLOUD migration roadmap present and future BU migrations to account for CLOUD performance sustainability.

·               Developed extensive business cost models to validate OneCloud vs MS Azure Business unit fit present and future growth with pricing and business technical alignment.

·               Built strong trusts with all senior management and business leaders by involving them in Cloud Compute technology solutions (IPaaS, IaaS, DNSaaS, LBaaS, SaaS, AaaS) recommendations to insure business costing needs were being met. 

 

UST Global (Wal-Mart) Roger, AR

Sr. Enterprise Sr. PGM MGR  .(09/2012 to 12/2013)

Responsible for managing all aspects of the WAL-Mart Terra Data based infrastructure upgrade related initiatives, encompassing 6 level 1 projects with a total budget in excess of $156M. Develop project charters, communications plans, Budgets, forecasting and schedules.  Manage 36 cross functional technical resources in a multi matrix environment.

Key Projects Aspects & Achievements

·               Managed $156Million in Terra Data based technology budgets.

·               40 technical Staff (Direct, Matrix, Offshore)

·               Provided technical oversight to CLOUD based technology upgrades (IPaaS, IaaS, DNSaaS, LBaaS, SaaS, AaaS)

·               Provided strategic and tactical leadership to drive clients on an expedient schedule.

·               Championed C level stake holder reporting, forecasting, communications & presentations.

 

PPL Energy Allentown, PA

Sr. Enterprise Consultant  (08/2011 to 08-2012)

Tasked to identify underperforming technology for the Energy’s day trading division. Scope - internally developed Terra Data - Data warehouse with daily trading reports in excess of 80GB exceeding 12hrs to complete. Identified significant micro strategy and Oracle configuration defects.  Serving as liaison between the business trading division and Technology. Worked with core teams to coordinated revision updates, and validation of recommended code changes in comparison to overall timeline performance. 

Key Projects Aspects & Achievements

·               Trained and mentored others in functional and performance testing, configurations and advanced support.

·               Resource management, utilization & compliance.

·               Provided strategic and tactical leadership to drive resolution on an aggressive schedule.

·               Championed the Re-design of Oracle operational architecture Lehigh Valley & Allentown.

·               Recognized for intense details in developing requirements and establishing accountability.

·               Provided translation of business needs into functional technical requirements for business units (daily trader reports).

·               Generated high quality deliverables thru change mgmt...

·               Reduced 80GB report from 12hrs to just under 2hrs.

 

Verizon Wireless Dallas, TX

Sr. Enterprise PGM Mgr.  (10/2010 to 08-2011)

Managed performance testing of a new Verizon Terra Data based B2B offerings. Developed and coordinated advanced methodologies to test core Infrastructure for CLOUD based MAX load and performance.  Provided advanced issue resolution of Server, OS, Storage, Switch, configurations, on a 10G Network. NetApp storage infrastructure and HP Open View NNM. Worked with core teams in a nationally matrix environment. Spearheaded the implementation, optimization of HP servers and NetApp architecture. This included hardware and software solutions for Tampa DIT and SIT test site, UAT in Reston production site and staging in Ashburn pre-production site. This includes design and documentation (MOPS) of advanced performance configurations includes detailed architectural design and implementation for all data centers.

Key Projects Aspects & Achievements

·               President of Verizon - Credited for saving the UAT program 3 times.

·               Technical lead for the delivery team (Engineers/Administrators) throughout the engagement.

·               Championed Terra Data delivery team (Engineers/Administrators) throughout the engagement 4 data centers “Reston Ashburn, Tampa, and Sacramento”.

·               Designed VZ Terra Data infrastructure performance from 1.2Gbps to 9.8Gbps data transfers on Net App storage.

·               Exceeded industry transcoding standard @ 119 slot simultaneous transcodes on 1 physical system.

·               Exceeded manufacturers design configuration successfully Transcoding on VM’s servers.

·               Identified designed and documented 3 data centers for issue resolution and advanced performance configuration HP hardware BL460c G6 / G7 & C7000 Chassis using various HP tools including HPSM.

·                Technical lead for storage efficiency optimization activities, performance tuning, and system validation tasks.

·               VZ Production recommended Net App filer architectural changes that yielded 33% performance increase.

·               Identified critical challenges with the build out of HP Open View NNM / OM, provided advanced resolution.

·               Trained and mentored others in functional and performance testing, configurations and advanced support.

·               Advanced prototype testing of transcoder data architecture to exceed 1Gbps

 

CSC Dallas, TX

Sr. Manager     (11/2007 to 08/2010)

Managed data center refresh. Worked closely with team of BA’s and PMO, development, infrastructure SMEs and business system architects to complete delivery of strategic business objectives.. Coordinated and held daily team meetings to review deliverables and time lines. Identified and eliminated road blocks to ensure completion of technical team’s tasks.  Direct client facing, provided metrics and Lead development of new ITIL process standardization. VM ware implementation, documentation and management of the IT infrastructure architecture across domains. This included the strategic planning and day-to-day operations, R & D, compliance, disaster recovery, and business continuity. Facilitated meetings develop timelines; manage budgets, authored weekly status reports and reduction of SLA’s.

Key Projects Aspects & Achievements

·               Coordinated the IOS upgrade of 2400 Cisco routers & switches, VLANS MGMT, Multiple VPNs and wireless access.

·               Performed a VMware Capacity Planner assessment on the in-scope environment.

·               Authored high-level planning, design, optimization, research, analysis, proposals, and solution delivery that align with the business and technology strategies.

·               Planed archive project to enable continuous Improvement and resolve sustainment issues which require an innovative solution. A shift from present architecture to a tapeless configuration. Incorporated Data De-Duplication technologies on a NetApp hosted storage solution reducing 70 Terabytes solution to 15Terrabyes.

 

Calpine Energy Houston, TX

Technology PM                       (01/2007 to 11/2007)

Recruited to manage a national remediation of IT equipment; 160 locations across the US. Managed implementation; (RFP), design, vendor relationship and negotiations, equipment migration and inventory/asset management. The Infrastructure Strategy & Planning for migration, a full change agent and VM Ware implementation. Drafted (RFI, RFO, RFP) for key vendor identification.

Key Projects Aspects & Achievements

·               Managed a $10m technology budget with P&L during a chapter 11 emergence.

·               Built redesign of multi-function wireless device solution across 90 plant sites and 70 corporate offices in the US.

·               Provided concise executive summary on findings and a direct forward.

·               Hosted executive level sessions providing technical concepts and solutions to a business audience.

·               Drafted operational procedures for process improvement created various reporting templates for SOX compliance.

·               Identified revenue loss from previous design of leased equipment resulting in a savings of 2.5m yearly.

 

Hostnet Inc. / Cinemark Dallas, TX

Director IT                                       (07/2006 to 01/2007)                                    

Duties included supporting the CTO in determining technical business strategy for the overall good of the corporation. Provided insight on proposed national remediation existing technology for Cinemark’s US and international theater Infrastructure hosting multiple wireless access and VPN access points.

Key Project Aspects & Achievements

·               Identified and propose integration solutions for 8000 data circuits & 74,000 POS units a $9.8m cost savings.

·               Responsible for managing business requirements, technical design, developing migration and implementation. 

·               Authored project scope, RFI, RFP, SOW, Identified and down selected vendors.

·               Led the development of the service delivery model for the IT organization based on ITIL service management.

·               Authored, published, and enhances internal service catalogues and support documentation to align with new technology’s

·               Identified, authored and presented client Kitty Hawk air cargo for full VOIP hosted solution resulting in a 12m contract.

 

Kaiser Permanente Walnut Creek, CA                

Sr. Project Manager                       (04/2005 to 07/2006)                                    

Lead SPM for a national remediation of 400 sites into 2. (8000 servers) Developed requirements, and functional documentation specifications, also provided concise enterprise applications remediation roadmap to include master schedules.

Key Project Aspects & Achievements

·               Provided strategic and tactical project leadership to drive project on an aggressive schedule.

·               Hosted national team conferences, reviewed SLA’s, collaborated mitigation plans and solutions.

·               Direct client facing, managed vendors, schedules, P&L, assure project adherence.

·               SPM for team of 12 project managers and 40 TSME’s.

·               Managed upgrade of Medical related applications, KASIS, Allegra, SW evaluations and Vendor reviews

·               Coordinating efforts of the NAS IT team and the BA group, perform site surveys, user assessments.

·               Led efforts to facilitate circuit migration for 400 sites into 2 data centers

 

United For Families, Inc., Ft. Pierce, FL

Technology & Facilities Manager                                                                                                  (02/2001 to 03/2005)

Given full leadership, negotiating and decision making responsibility to define and implement SOA and WOA technologies, processes and standards throughout the organization to facilitate growth and build out of 5 data centers located in south central Florida this includes the Ft. Pierce State of Florida Co-location building construction and technology configurations.  Collaborated with executive management, analyzed business needs, implement solutions to provide cost reduction and integrate operations between 5 locations. Accountability spanned project/program planning / management, processes / procedures redesign, quality / operational cost reduction, purchasing / contract negotiations, assessments / implementation, team development and leadership.

Key Project Aspects & Achievements

·               Spearheaded design / implementation of infrastructure to ensure appropriate delivery / integration of applications services to 5 data centers.

·               Reduced overall datacenter operational cost by 26%.

·               Financials - Budget, P/L accountability, CERs (capital expenditure requests), ROI, cost benefit analysis

·               Led the deployment of access system to reduce risks and minimize yearly costs by 12%

·               Managed implementation of 6 Meridian PBX / Voice Mail Systems, coordinated circuits with vendors.

·               Renegotiated contracts with vendors: Nextel, Cingular & Verizon supporting 22000 users capturing 15% savings.

·               Designed and implemented disaster recovery, and a managed desktop solution.

 

Caxton Corp., New York, NY

Manager Data Center                                                                                           (03/1999 to 02/2001)

Recruited to redesign the Data Centers in 3 locations reducing down time and optimally support financial operations.

Key Project Aspects & Achievements

·               Recognized for introducing effective technology strategies, increasing network availability by 40% within 6 months.

·               Documented technical environment and standards, including Anti-Virus and Back-up administration, mailbox management, and recovery procedures.

·               Researched and facilitated the deployment of 120 CMPQ server and software standards into the environment.

·               Provided a gap analysis of existing equipment, staff and data required successful completion of project.

·               Managed the migration of all NY / NJ users to newly designed mail cluster, no business interruption

·               Full accountability for managing and upgrading the 3 data centers to support global traders throughout Japan, New York and New Jersey.

·               Led the re-engineering of back-up / recovery operations, achieving 100% recovery for all servers, and enhancing success rate of back-up procedures from 45% to 100%.

·               Led the deployment of HPOV NNM and managed the Nortel Meridian PBX/Vmail system upgrade for NY and NJ sites.

 

Emax, A SciQuest Company, NTSQ, PA

Technical Manager/IS Manager                              (01/1996 to 03/1999)

Built an impressive record of achievements and advancements through a series of increasingly responsible positions for this software solutions provider to the pharmaceutical industry.

Key Project Aspects & Achievements

·               Company CEO cited infrastructure overhaul as essential to the company's increase of Q3 profits.

·               Credited with redesigning of data center, optimizing and leading teams in appropriately supporting high-availability infrastructure, resulting in increasing production by 23% and a reduced cost of 15%.

·               Successfully negotiated, migrated voice and data circuit from Verizon to Sprint reducing costs by 12%

·               Planned and coordinated the built out of 2 new expansions supporting company growth by 50%.

·               Credited with successfully leading a team of 15 developers to complete the deployment of the robotics software.

·               Promoted; Technical Manager to plan and oversee the implementation of robotics software at client sites throughout US and international.

 

SmartRoute Systems, Inc., Philadelphia, PA

Network Operation Manager                                          (01/1994 to 12/1996)

Recognized for facilitating management and deployment of the infrastructure witch encompasses 3 data centers for this start-up high-tech traffic information company.  Originally recruited as Network Administrator and promoted within 3 months to lead team of 7 in creating a program standard.  While acting as program manager led a design team to, delivery/support various enterprise services to include disaster recovery. Supervised teams of up to 7 throughout 3 locations.

Key Project Aspects & Achievements

·               Recognized for facilitating the growth of the organization from start-up to a leading high-tech traffic information company servicing public and private organizations.

 

Previous Professional Experience                                                                                              (1991 to 1994)

Network Operations Manager/Consultant, Peoplesoft, Inc., Systems Engineer / Consultant, Computerware, Inc., MIS Specialist, First Fidelity Bank, Lead Service Engineer, UBM Computer Center Hardware Manager, COMPUSA

 

Education & Technology Training

Strategic Leadership Management  / Leadership champs.worldpress.com, Cultural Diversity Leadership Management / SAMHSA, ITIL, De-Duplication, Lean Six Sigma, PMP / Computer Sciences Corporation, MCSE, CNE / Computeach, Server and storage / HP, Server, Storage, Workstation / DELL, IBM, CISCO, Silicon, Matrix, Smart ups / APC, Meridian PBX / Voice Mail System / Nortel, AT&T PBX / Voice Mail System, Back-up Exec / Veritas, SQL/SQL*Plus / ORACLE, HPOV, Network Node Manager / HP, Mortgage Brokers License (Florida), Inactive Confidential Clearance, Photovoltaic, Light Emitting Diode (LED Lighting).

SKILLS

Applications – MS Project , MSOffice thru 2010, Visio, Access, Mobile Device Management, CA ITSD, Service Catalog, Asset Management, Work Bench, Clarity, Niku, SharePoint, Dell Kace, Solarwinds,  Oracle 11i, WM.ASP, Subversion, Filezilla, Remedy, SMS, PeopleSoft, ERP, CRM, HPSM, CASDM, Symantec Net Backup / Backup exec, Veritas, Blackberry, HPOV NNM, Cisco Works, McAfee, Norton, Ghost, Drive Image Pro, Fax Server, Google Chrome, Rhozet, Signiant, Aspera, Cerify, Service Now, Aligne, Micro Strategy & Data Warehouse, Informatica.

Operating Systems- Windows, Linux RHEL, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Novell, MAC

Hardware- Dell, Cisco, HP, MobileIron, Teradata, EMC DMX, Net App, Intel, Sun, IBM, MAC, AS400, PIC

Architecture, Method, Process – ITIL, SOX, SDLC, hosting, eCommerce, Agile/Scrum, Disaster Recovery_, Business Continuity. 

Standards – ISO, PCI, SOX, PMBOK, Agile, Water Fall Tracker, ROI, Cost Benefit Analysis.

Other – Sales Opportunities, New Business, Migrations, Upgrades, Transformations, Integrations, Refresh.

Project Locations – China, France, US; NC, VA, GA, TX, CA, PA, NY, MA, FL, NJ, VA, many CA cities.

Affiliations

Texas Technology Management Leaders, Citrix Virtualization Technology, ITSM (ITIL) Professionals, The ITIL Group, The SQLDBA Group, AV Industry Professionals, AV Engineers, Cisco Unified Communications & Collaboration, Cisco, DSP Gurus, Executives & Leaders (Technology, Oil & Gas, Energy, Healthcare) - GlocalCircles.com, The ITIL Group, ITSM Professional, SQL DBA.